This is Not Over

Most of the team is now safely in their way home to the US while a couple are still around enjoying some extra time on their own within the peruvian territory. Us peruvians are also split since interpreter Norma and her sister Erika (who helped as support) are still in their way back to Lima, although Malu (PT) and I are finally back home.

Today has been full of farewells, but all full of hope and expectations for what the Lord may bring next. We know we have been all challeneged during this trip but I will be bold enough to say that we probably can handle more than we would expect ourselves... by faith.

This is not over. We all are looking forward for what God has in store for us. This trip in particular seems to have been filled with several events that had some sort of start in past trips, (Victor, Gaby, and others) starting with how Jill and I got connected again and saw each other after the last campaign where we worked together at least 6 years a go.
BTW, I am probably not making sense in my words since I am so tired, but I have too much joy to not share a little :)

I just want to end now saying that I believe we all know this is not a one week event, but an on going chain of happenings conceived by the joy of the Lord, caused by His love for us all and multiplied by our faith in the fact that He is in control and we are here to just follow His lead.

God bless you all, and let's rejoice always for eternity counting His mercies and making His name known to the ends of the earth.

After waking up in Cayaltí, spent the morning in Zaña and had lunch in Chiclayo I am now going to bed in Lima and you will wake up in the US. What a day huh?
¡Los amo!

A Trip to the Mountaintop!

We are having a wonderful experience here in Trujillo and tomorrow we go to Cayalti to set up a distribution site there. Today we worked hard all day in fact it is 7:30 PM and some are still working on a complicated wheelchair. When my team was done around 6 PM, I got to go out into the hall for the first time today. The hall is where the new people are registered and also where the people who have just received a chair get to hear the gospel message delivered by very experienced counselors. All the people were gone except one man who was sitting with the counselor. The man was Victor! I recognized him from last year. He returned because the chair he got last year was worn out. When I saw Victor a year ago, he was very big and strong and very angry with God because of the accident he had had. Since the accident, he was unable to talk or walk. As I worked with him last year, I tried to tell him that God loved him. He screamed out! After a few minutes, he calmed down and I continued to talk to him about Joni and how the wheelchairs came to be here in Peru. Any time I mentioned God during that explanation, he again screamed and got very upset. We modified a wheelchair for him and he seemed satisfied with it. His wife was most grateful. They then went to the evangelism station. Victor became so agitated as the Gospel was shared, they had to take him away to another room and were unable to finish sharing with him.

Well today, one year later, I saw Victor sitting in the hall at the counselor station. Someone else saw him today and fit him with a wheelchair. He looked very good sitting in it. The counselor was talking to him and his neice Brenda. The name of God was spoken many times during this presentation. Not once did Victor scream or even get upset. Brenda bowed her head and prayed to receive the Lord! Victor didn't pray. The counselor continued to share the Good News with him. Anytime he looked away, Brenda would touch his face and tell him he needed to listen. So he would turn back and listen. After several more minutes, the counselor invited Victor to pray with him to receive the Lord. With a short nod of his head, Victor indicated he wanted to pray. The counselor spoke the words and Victor quietly indicated he agreed!! Thank you, Lord for Victor and Brenda's salvation and thank you that I was able to be there to witness it!

More from Judy

Dear Ron and Friends,
Life is interesting in the Christian world. We went to church in Lima on Sunday morning and then to the airport to fly to Trujillo. The airlines decided we owed them another $170 if we wanted to fly so we spent the afternoon sitting around the airport with the luggage except mine and one other lady who got our luggage on board before they decided we couldn't go. Therefore, my luggage beat me to Trujillo. We finally got out at 8:30 instead of our original time of 4:00. We finally got here around 10:00.
Today we processed 9 people at our station giving out wheel chairs. There were 41 people given wheel chairs in all and 32 decisions for Christ. God is good and He is moving in Peru. The people were very loving and appreciative. We shared the love of Jesus with them and they shared much love back. My spanish is getting better but still has a long way to go. Tiene usted a Jesus en su Corazone?
(Do you have Jesus in your heart?)
There was a construction corner with men working to cut foam and wood as to the orders of the physical therapists. We had two ladies sewing what needed to be adapted and a table full of gifts including wheel chair bags, seat cover cushions, teddy bears, gum, and various other items people brought to share. God is good all the time. Thank you for this opportunity and God bless the senders.
Love in the Lord,
Judy Egleston

Monday update from Garry

Today was very busy & tiring as we spent a long time traveling yesterday. It was a very worth the effort day as there were over thirty decisions for Christ. We now have more brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Please continue to pray for us all and for the people who will come the rest of the week. That the Holy Spirit will continue to prepare hearts to receive the Gospel of Christ.

From Judy

Dear Friends and Ron,
Thanks for your help and support in prayer for my trip. God bless you. I'm, having a wonderful experience. We had a wonderful prayer meeting last night. We are now headed to a church in Lima. We will leave this afternoon for Trujillo and our mission. The wheel chairs have arrived and gotten through customs so all is a go if I can do my part. Again thanks for your help in making this happen. God is blessing.
Love to all,
Judy

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW & GREAT THINGS

The WFTW Trujillo 2009 team arrived safely in Lima, Peru and has had a wonderful time getting acquainted. God has done so many exciting things to get each of us to this point. Our theme verse is Is 43:19 "Behold, I will do a new thing..." and we are certainly looking forward to cooperating with all He has planned for this week. Today we attend Calvary Chapel-Lima and hope to share God's heart for disability ministry. Then we fly to Trujillo to begin the wheelchair distribution. There is still some concern about getting the last two of the 4 shipping containers released from customs so the wheelchairs can be transported to their final distribution locations for all three teams ministering this week in Lima, Arequipa and Trujillo. So we would sincerely appreciate your prayers for God to remove all the roadblocks so that we can effectively offer New Life in Christ to multitudes of Peruvians.

Welcome to Peru!!

Dear Richard, Jill, Donna, Chris, Teresa, Jeffrey, Mary, Garry, Judy, Robert, Kathy, Diane, Susan welcome to Peru ! !

Norma, Erika, Ines and Malu thanks to you and our brothers and sisters from U.S for being such a blessing in this outreach.

May God richly bless everyone of you with abundant love and wisdom and be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9
" Have I not commanded you?Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"

With love,

Cecilia & Jean-Luc Derycke

PRAYER REQUESTS

As our team prepares to travel to Peru this Friday, we thank you in advance for upholding us in prayer:      

¨      That God's presence would be with us mightily

¨      That God would be glorified in everything we do

¨      That our hearts would be humble and submitted to Him

¨      For protection, physical stamina, safety and health as we work and travel

¨      That God would be preparing hearts to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior

¨      For unity among our team and the Peruvian volunteers

¨      For wisdom, discernment and sensitivity to be led by the Holy Spirit

¨      For divine appointments, flexibility and God's hand in our busy schedule

¨      For the wheelchairs and Spanish Bibles to be released from customs in Lima and quickly transported to the distribution site in Trujillo

¨      For the well-being and care of our family members remaining at home

¨      That new believers would continue to grow in Christ after the "Wheels" team returns home

¨      That disability ministry would expand in Peru and in our home churches

God Opens Doors - Literally

There are many aspects of preparation for a “Wheels” trip. In addition to passports, packing, and praying – supplies are needed and I volunteered to bring wheelchair bags. Each recipient receives a bag with their very own Bible, “Joni” book, and little gifts. Thankfully, many of my friends offered to sew the bags.

However, one friend called half-way through her sewing project, so disappointed and concerned – her sewing machine broke. Her husband offered to buy her a new one, just so she could finish the job. I assured her somehow they would get sewed, and we agreed to meet for lunch the next day where she would give me the finished bags and the fabric for the remainder of them.

The next morning I wondered who could sew the rest of the bags, since I’d already asked almost every seamstress I knew. But after stewing awhile with no answers, I realized I should pray. Unfortunately, I’m often of the – “stew first - pray later” – mindset, but trying to improve.

A few hours later I was hurrying to leave work for our lunch and I walked past a closed office door. Just as I hurried past, the door opened. Out came another friend, and it hit me – She sews wedding dresses! “Really, God? That quickly?” Not only did she agree to sew the remaining wheelchair bags, but later told me how much she enjoyed doing it – “because I say a prayer for each person that is going to get the bag I am sewing.”

How precious are all the helpers, senders, and pray-ers back home!

"Thank you, Lord for each one of them and thank you for inviting us to bring our problems to you, the small ones and the big ones. For when we pray, not only do we see You answer, but we see your Love reaching out to us. Help us, O Lord, to convey your tangible Love to those we will be reaching out to in your name. And thank you for the doors of help you open. Amen."

God's Provision

September 17, my husband and I got home from a most wonderful Wheels For The World trip to the Ukraine in conjunction with partner organization, Global Aid Network, the humanitarian aid arm of Campus Crusade for Christ. While rejoicing over the incredible team we had served with in the Ukraine, I was talking to the Lord about raising support for my next trip, a "Wheels" trip to Peru that was coming up in about 6 weeks. I still needed $1700. Then an e-mail came from Jill and Richard, our Ukraine trip leaders, telling us that there was some money left over after the Ukraine trip and we could apply it toward my Peru trip! Thank you, Lord!! After applying that surplus to my Joni and Friends Peru account, I was trusting Him to provide the remaining $1,300, but I had no idea how. One of my many flaws is a tendency to rush ahead of the Lord. I often try to figure out how He should answer my prayers and then procede to tell Him my plan. After so many times of seeing Him answer in ways MUCH better then my plans, you'd think I'd learn, but ...

Anyway, the next day I received an e-mail from a Ukraine team member telling me that she knew I was planning to go on the Peru trip and she was willing to apply her Ukraine trip surplus to my Peru account. Now you need to understand that this friend is a missionary who has to raise her own support. I knew she needs every dollar she has and yet she was willing to share her "widow's mite" with me. Knowing the kind heart of my friend, but not feeling right about accepting her offer, I went to the Lord in prayer. I asked Him to make it very clear to me whether or not I should accept the money from my friend. The next day, a totally unexpected tax refund check arrived in the mail from the IRS! It more than covered the remaining balance due for my Peru trip! How I rejoiced as I thanked my heavenly Father and was then able to share this answer to prayer with my generous friend and with others I met at the Global Aid Network warehouse in Lancaster, PA who are contemplating going on mission trips overseas. He just asks us to trust Him for all of our needs and He will provide. (Psalm 23). I hope I have finally learned that lesson.

HOW IT WORKS

Wheels For The World (WFTW) Trujillo 2009 is an outreach program of Joni and Friends. 

Dedicated volunteers have collected used wheelchairs across the United States and transported them to Restoration Shops where carefully trained inmates in seventeen separate correctional facilities have restored them to like-new condition. 160 of these wheelchairs have been shipped overseas to meet up with our team of short-term missionaries to distribute them in Trujillo and Cayalti, Peru November 5-15, 2009.

We partner with the Peruvian disability ministry, Corazones Unidos, which means "Hearts United".  They serve by our side during the distribution and follow-up with each family after we return to the States.

A wheelchair is a greater gift than gold to the disabled in an underdeveloped country who otherwise face a lifetime of isolation and confinement. Our team of seating specialists and wheelchair mechanics will custom fit the wheelchair specifically for each recipient and train him or her in wheelchair use and upkeep. Our support and evangelism team members give each recipient a Bible and communicate the message of God's love for them.

As a recipient of the love of God in action, many place their trust in Christ. They experience new life and purpose with their new mobility . . . and disability ministry grows all over the world.

Thank you for reading our blog. We would be very grateful to have your partnership in prayer for our WFTW Outreach in Peru. Please check this site frequently for updates over the next several weeks.